Homes are ceremonial,
ripe with obscure patterns
absentmindedly repeated.

The Dining Room
where eating 
is an uncomfortably full altar;

The Living Room
where family mementos and the tv
sacrifice lives;

Even the Kitchen,
recipeless and hurried,
has ghosts,

although its necessary
Partner, (for defecating and self-presentation),
tries to be polite.

So the young
flee and refuse the rituals
that triggered their fears,

So the older
submit to the comfort
of their ceremonies.